Chương 354: Steel and Carapace

Vale wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand as he advanced toward the insectoid creature. It was undeniably faster than him. Stronger too. Under normal circumstances, those facts alone would have forced him to retreat and rethink his approach. But these were not normal circumstances. His gaze drifted beyond the creature to Eskar's unconscious body and the cluster of young forest drakes huddled nearby. They were far too close.

There was no guarantee the monster would remain focused on him, and for all Vale knew, the instant it found an opening, it would butcher every living thing behind him without hesitation. He still had no idea what category the creature belonged to, but judging by how effortlessly it had carved through a fully grown forest drake, it had to be an exceptionally powerful Category Four, perhaps even something that blurred the line beyond it. Slowly, Vale settled into his stance.

His onyx blade rested before him while his dagger hovered low at his side, a sharp grin spreading across his face as anticipation flickered through his eyes.

"Let's see how fast you really are." The moment the words left his mouth, he exploded forward. The forest floor shattered beneath his feet as he launched himself at full speed, closing the distance in a heartbeat. To any ordinary human, he would have appeared as little more than a blur. To the insect... He was slow. The creature didn't run, no, it was too fast to apply that term, it simply vanished from sight. Vale's pupils shrank.

'What—?!' Before the thought could even finish, instinct seized control. He slammed one foot into the ground and threw his upper body backward until he nearly lost his balance. A blood-red blade sliced through the space where his neck had been a heartbeat earlier, splitting the air with a shrill scream. His palm struck the earth, and using it as leverage, he hurled himself backward in a pendulum-like motion. His boots carved long trenches through the soil while his eyes searched desperately for the next attack.

'Too fast...' Branches rustled overhead. Leaves burst apart as the creature circled through the canopy with terrifying speed.

"So that's how it is..." Vale slowly exhaled, tightening his grip around the sword.

"I'll just have to adapt." The instant the insect descended from a towering tree behind him, both bladed forearms already carving toward his spine, something enormous crashed into it. The insect shrieked as it was hurled across the forest floor, smashing through bushes before slamming headfirst into an ancient tree with enough force to split the trunk apart. The mother forest drake roared. Without the slightest hesitation, she charged.

Vale's eyes narrowed as the insect calmly stood, almost as though nothing had happened. A chill crept down his spine.

"Wait!" The warning came too late. The Drake's colossal claw descended like a collapsing mountain, pulverizing the earth beneath it. The impact split the ground apart and shattered another towering tree into splinters. But it struck nothing. The insect had already disappeared. A heartbeat later, it materialized behind the drake, and a crimson arc flashed through the air. Her back erupted in a fountain of blood as an agonized roar echoed across the forest.

The insect answered with an eerie clicking sound that almost resembled laughter. Vale moved.

"Bite steel!" His blade screamed toward the creature's neck in a flawless horizontal slash. The insect twisted at the last possible instant, the edge missing its throat by mere centimeters as it sprang backward. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. It had forgotten one thing. Forest drakes were descendants of dragons. And dragons did not fall so easily. With a furious roar, the wounded drake whipped around.

One colossal claw slammed into the insect before it could regain its footing, crushing it into the ground before hurling it clear across the clearing. The creature smashed into the nearby cliff face hard enough to spread cracks through the stone. Vale's grin widened.

"There we go..." Thin fractures had appeared across the insect's black carapace.

"So I can hurt you." Lowering himself once again, his thoughts raced.

'Only surprise attacks work. Its speed is overwhelming. Its shell is absurdly durable...'

'We need to bait it.'

'One of us has to become an opening.'

"... What a pain." The insect pushed itself free from the cliff. Halfway through its descent, it drove all four legs into the rock, compressing like a spring before launching itself directly toward Vale.

"Seriously?! There's a giant drake right beside me!" The creature ignored the larger target completely. It wanted him. Vale met the charge head-on. At the final instant, he shifted one foot backward, allowing the insect's own momentum to carry it past him before redirecting its weight into the ground. The earth exploded beneath the impact, but the creature bounced away almost instantly. Vale smiled. Now he could see it. Not perfectly. But enough.

He had begun to understand its rhythm, its habits, and the angles from which it preferred to strike. The next exchange came even faster. Steel collided against a living blade as Vale intercepted one forearm cleanly, locking it in place for the briefest fraction of a second.

'Now.' Exactly as expected, the insect sprang backward. Vale burst after it. His onyx blade drove downward, pinning one of the creature's legs to the earth before it could react. Raising his dagger overhead, he struck without hesitation.

"Fun fight." The dagger plunged... Into empty air. Without the slightest hesitation, the insect had severed its own trapped leg. The detached limb remained skewered to Vale's sword while the creature landed several meters away, blood pouring freely from the wound. Its mandibles clicked slowly as it stared first at the missing leg, then at Vale. Its countless emotionless eyes ignited with unmistakable fury. A piercing screech ripped through the forest. Vale calmly tore his blade free.

"So you're angry now." Before the insect could retaliate, an enormous shadow swallowed it once more. The mother drake descended again, and this time her strike landed squarely. For one glorious moment... Then blood exploded. The insect had somehow appeared atop the drake's back. Another pair of deep gashes carved through her flesh, and the great beast staggered. Her legs buckled before she collapsed heavily onto the forest floor, every labored breath weaker than the last. Vale's expression darkened.

The insect remained standing atop its fallen prey, silently watching him. There was no clicking. No screeching. It had stopped underestimating him.

'... Damn it.' His fingers tightened around his sword. The creature had hidden its true speed this entire time. Everything until now... had merely been testing him. A cold realization settled over him.

'I can't win.' Not alone. Not against something this fast. Behind him lay Eskar. If he fell here, the insect would butcher him next. Then it would slaughter the young drakes, and afterward anyone unfortunate enough to cross its path. Vale ground his teeth together.

"Damn worthless insect..." His voice came out low, almost unnervingly calm, as he raised his blade once more.

"Come on then." The insect vanished. It crossed the distance between them almost instantly. Vale had already begun his swing. His timing was perfect. His technique is flawless. It simply wasn't enough. The creature was faster. Its blades would reach him long before his own sword could.

'I'm going to die.' Yet instead of fear... Something else answered. Hunger. A bottomless, primal hunger erupted from somewhere deep within him, alien yet strangely familiar. It wanted only one thing. To consume. To devour. To tear the creature apart and make its existence his own. A grin twisted across Vale's face, becoming almost feral as that overwhelming instinct drowned every other thought. Then an ocean of fire swallowed the battlefield.

The insect vanished backward with a shriek as towering crimson flames erupted between it and Vale, reducing everything in their path to molten ash. The inferno slowly parted, revealing a lone figure walking through it as though the flames were no more than a gentle breeze. Tall. Broad-shouldered. Tanned skin. Blazing crimson hair. One icy blue eye. The other is gone forever. His missing arm had become roaring magma flowing beneath glowing flesh. Eskar. He stepped through the flames with an amused look on his face.

"Seriously?" he scoffed, fixing Vale with an incredulous stare.

"You can't even handle this thing?" Relief washed over Vale so quickly that it almost made him laugh.

"You seem to have had just as much trouble," he answered dryly.

"What gives you the right to talk?" Eskar merely shrugged.

"I managed to rip one antenna off." He pointed toward the insect.

"You've done absolutely nothing other than make it angry." Vale clicked his tongue.

"Fair enough." The insect shrieked again, cutting through the conversation. Vale lowered himself back into his stance.

"So many questions... but they can wait." His grip tightened around his blade. Glancing sideways, he saw Eskar standing beside him, casually twirling the second onyx blade, the very sword Vale had abandoned on the cliff. Somehow, somewhere amid everything that had happened, Eskar had retrieved it.

"... Let's kill the bug first." A grin spread across Eskar's face as blazing crimson flames erupted around his body, heat rippling through the air.

"Agreed."